Third case of swine flu death in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD, Jan 19: Swine fluclaimed another life on Wednesday after 58-year-old Laxmi, a resident of Saroornagar in the city, succumbed to H1N1 virus while undergoing treatment at the state-run Gandhi hospital.
This is the third swine flu death to be recorded since January 1 after two others – Sanaj Begum, 38, a resident of Nawab Saheb Kunta and 35year-old Manjula from Yadadri district.

Sources said that Laxmi was admitted in a private hospital in Madhapur on January 14 for treatment but was shifted to Gandhi Hospital after a couple of days. She was in a critical condition and the doctors did not get sufficient time to stabilise her condition.

“Due to lack of any regulatory mechanism, some of the private hospitals treating swine flu patients are referring them to Gandhi Hospital only at the last stage,” complained a senior health official at Gandhi Hospital, requesting anonymity.
Affordability is said to be an issue with patients, with medium and large-scale corporate hospitals charging anywhere between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh for a single day ventilator support. In the case of small-scale private hospitals, patients are referred to the state hospital as they do not have ventilator support.

What’s worse, the prevailing cold wave condition has shot up the number of H1N1 positive cases to 50 (as on Tuesday) since January 1, said sources. In the last 17 days, swab samples of 370 people were tested at the Institute of Preventive Medicine (IPM).

Meanwhile, in a health bulletin released by the office of Rajeshwar Tiwari, principal secretary (health), Telangana on Wednesday, the government advised citizens to take precautions such as reporting to the hospital at the very first signs such as like high fever, sneezing, cough and body pains.

The bulletin put the total number of confirmed swine flu cases in the state from August 1, 2016 to January 17, 2017 at 146. This includes nine deaths. It further said that sufficient stock of medicines is available at all state-run teaching hospitals, district hospitals and area hospitals in the state.